The Pressure Behind the Wheel

BréAnna
Smith

The
Pressure Behind the Wheel

One
of the main causes of anxiety in today’s society for parents is
protecting their children with car safety. In general, people are
concerned about the safety of children while driving considering the
statistics between teen drivers and car crashes. National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration declares that 1,830 young
drivers between the ages of 15 to 20 years old die in motor vehicle
crashes annually. School officials and communities are
taking a variety of steps to ensure the overall safety of kid’s
driving.

Drunk
driving within teens is a serious problem takes thousands of lives
annually. Too many lives have been lost to drunk driving. A death
from drunk driving does not only affect the victim but it affects
everyone around them such as family and friends. There are many
solutions to prevent drunk driving, but they will only work if we put
them into play.

2
years ago, my cousin and 4 of his friends got in the car on a snowy
night in Rhode Island. All of them were intoxicated including the
driver. As the car sped down the road, the tires began to lose their
grip and the car began to spin. A sudden collision between the car
and a tree resulted in the front seat passenger flying out of the
front window. As the remaining 4 people in the car scramble to escape
the vehicle, it exploded. 2 people were hospitalized, 2 people were
left dead with my cousin being one of them. The driver was the only
person able to walk away from the crash. I remember when my family
found out about the accident. My mom got the call from my uncle and
immediately just began to scream. I remember thinking about how one
night, one decision, one drink, can change the lives of so many
people so quickly.

According
to DUI statistics, every 90 seconds someone is psychically injured
because of drunk driving with a large percentage of these people
being teens. Educating teens on the effects of drunk driving in
schools could decrease this number. Policies
put in place can clearly affect teens’ driving behavior and their
safety. Drivers ed programs that provide the history of this
crash prevention strategy, research on its effectiveness, and current
trends can prevent the amount of fatal crashes by teens. We can all
practice safer driving through not texting and driving, remaining
sober and focusing your attention on the road. With drivers ed,
younger drivers are able to understand the rules of the road and the
negative effect of not following these rules.

Furthermore,
teens who are under 21 are still developing from a psychological and
physical standpoint. Their bodies are not fully developed to handle
the effects and pressure of crashes. To conclude, in order to
decrease the amount of fatal crashes within people, teens
specifically, they must be educated in its affects and instructed not
to drink and drive.